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no sorry.............
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Your correct! That Duran showed me that he was a all time great. However Jim let me ask you....What happened in that specific fight in montreal after round 4. Now I am not by any means taking anything away from Duran as he beat leonard in a 15 round fight fair and square, it was his pace, his night. Just like Leonard beat hagler. However my question to you is was this not a big step up in caliber of opponent for Leonard, and did he not adjust to the game plan, and the tenacity of Duran from round 5 on, and on the scorecards win the majority of rounds on each of the 3 judges scorecards?No Duran, the man who moved up from LW to hand SRL his first defeat. The Duran who Leonard needed a 24 foot ring in the rematch so that he could run for 8 rounds. The Duran who is higher on the ATG list than Mayweather will ever be.
I say this because many try to paint this picture that Duran moved up and whipped Ray's but. That is not the fight I saw, and not the fight the judges saw. What I saw is a determined Duran one who was experienced, and mentally much stronger than Leonard, came in and imposed his will on Leonard who CHOSE THE WRONG FIGHT PLAN, and underestimated just how ferocious Duran was.
I saw Duran give his best effort and win the fight, but I also saw Leonard grow right before our eyes, from a flamboyant dazzling boxer who had never really been tested, to a true great fighter, who showed he has the heart and intestinal fortitude to deal with what another all time great fighter has to offer and find deep inside the skills to come back even on another fighters terms and fight a magnificent fight.
That is what I saw, and I believe that from round 5 on, leonard became a fighter that beats Duran 9 times out of 10, beat hearns in his prime, and beats hagler, . Thus Leonard to me since 1980 is the greatest fighter under 154, with Salvador Sanchez possibly enroute to be this person until his untimely death. Overall, all time it is without a doubt Sugar Ray Robinson.
Rating Duran during his peak is tough because he did move up and beat leoanrd but he also lost to leonard (quit) lost to Benetiz, and got stopped by hearns all 3 of these fights happened before the age of 34. Also Durans resume at Lightweight had some good fightes on it, but over 30 fights he faced were vs fighters with less than .500 records or very poor records and many of these fights happened after he was a champion. That is significant, as his 70-1 record that many point to as reason for his greatness is extremely padded with fighters that a Leonard or Mayweather would never even spar against.
So while it makes "legendary sense" to say Duran is should be rated better than Mayweather. I can see those that point to the fact that Mayweather consistently fought better fighters, moved up with out a loss, while duran did beat Ray leoanrd, but the rest of his wins (at 154 or less) coupled with his losses allow for deserved speculation.Comment
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